NL1010936C2 - Method and system for generating and finishing documents. - Google Patents

Abstract

For generating and finishing documents, a first data file in a first format, which describes the content of a document, is provided. The first data file is converted into a second data file (21-25; 121-125) in a second format, in which image defining instructions and other instructions for finishing the document occur. The second data file (21-25; 121-125) is processed into a processed second data file (21-25) with driving instructions for generating documents and associated driving instructions for finishing documents. Thereafter, in accordance with the driving instructions, a document is generated and finished in accordance with the driving instructions. Also disclosed are a system and a program structure for carrying out the proposed method. A considerable saving on the variety of software required for operating different operating systems and kinds of equipment is feasible, while information concerning the image such as it has been created in composing the document is maintained. <IMAGE>

Description

Short designation: Method and system for generating and finishing documents

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method and system for generating and finishing documents.

5 In order to communicate effectively using documents, it is generally not enough to prepare a document, but it must also be ensured that the document reaches the person for whom it is intended in a usable form.

10 If the document is ... a letter, it must be prepared for printing after it has been printed, for example by folding the document and putting it in an envelope. However, the document can also be a report or brochure, the pages of which must be collected and bound with a cover. Even if the document is an electronic document, some finishing will still be necessary to bring the document into a form suitable for transmission and to provide it with an address.

For the transmission of physical documents and in particular mail items, it has been and is common practice to print markings representing finishing instructions or referring to an address where finishing instructions are stored on a main document. When a package of master documents has been printed, they are transferred to a cou-digest system, in which the marks are read and the master documents are processed in accordance with the master documents. Examples of this are described, for example, in British patent application 2 202 660 and European patent application 0 265 192.

In order to avoid the need for printing marks on main documents, it has been proposed in US Patent 5 283 752 to feed documents directly from a printing apparatus to a finisher. .. In addition, the instructions for printing the documents and the instructions for finishing the documents are sent as a coherent set of instructions. Because the order in which instructions are issued is thus coupled to the order in which the documents for finishing 5 are supplied, the printing of marks for controlling the finishing of the documents can be omitted. More recent examples of integration of document printing and finishing are described in U.S. Patent 5,628,249 and in International Patent Application WO 97/28972.

A problem with the integrated preparation of instructions for printing and finishing documents is that if data processor systems from which the instructions for generating and printing documents are output work under different operating systems, different drivers (drivers) are required which are designed to work under those different operating systems. Also, when newer versions of operating systems are installed, new versions of the drivers are often required. Furthermore, different drivers are required to drive different finishing devices, the large number of variants and configurations in which finishing devices appear further increasing the required variety of driver software. Especially if it is desired to have a large number of users generate and finish documents using different devices, this makes system management complicated. If it is also desired to edit the instructions for generating and finishing documents, a further problem is posed because the software for editing the instructions for generating and finishing documents also requires many variants and at the time of publication in many cases, updated versions of operating systems are required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

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It is an object of the present invention to limit the required variety of control software required to control the generation and finishing of documents with a certain variety of operating systems and / or finishing equipment, while retaining the manageability of document images obtained using known driver software.

This object is achieved according to the present invention by performing a method of generating and finishing documents as set forth in claim 1. For this purpose, the invention also provides a system for generating and finishing documents according to claim 22, which system is specifically configured to perform the method of claim 1.

Because the information describing the content of one or more documents after being converted into a second format is processed into an edited file before the resulting control instructions are sent to the document generating and finishing equipment, instructions which are composed under different operating systems with one common finishing program, for example, to verify the correctness of addresses _.__ This program can also be used to edit the instructions for different types of equipment, so that a version of the editing software suitable for editing instructions for devices of different types. A considerable saving is thus achieved on the variety of software required to operate different operating systems and devices.

Since the second format contains image-defining instructions, when converting the instructions from the first format to the second format, the image or images of which the document or documents will consist is recorded in a universal intermediate format. Information about the image as it was in the preparation of the do- * r \. ~> .a a.

IU i ü oo Ό -4- document created is preserved, at least in essence, so that a "What you see is what you get" -like controllability of the image, which is common with document-generating software, can be maintained .

In addition, it is of course also possible, when editing the second file, to make deliberate changes to the image or images.

A further advantage of the method according to the invention is - at least when implementing the method according to the invention for controlling different devices for generating and finishing documents within an organization - that users only have to familiarize themselves with one interface to generate and finish documents using different devices 15 and simplify system administration, since modifying the file of devices to be driven to generate and finish documents does not require many changes to driver software installed on users to be.

20 The documents can be both physical documents and electronic documents. Finishing the documents can take many forms, such as packing in an envelope, binding related pages or controlling an e-mail program in accordance with address details belonging to a recipient with addition of when preparing the document specified attachments.

Further objects, aspects of implementation, advantages, and details regarding the invention are apparent from the dependent claims and the following description of some exemplary embodiments, in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, and

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Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of the architecture of a part of a system according to a second exemplary embodiment of the invention.

5 DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is first described in more detail with reference to the example shown in Fig. 1. A local area 1 is enclosed with a thick line, within which a local implementation of the system is located. This system comprises a local network structure 2, to which a number of stations are connected. According to this example, the connected stations are: a communication server 3, a personal computer 4, a minicomputer 5, a network fax scanner printer 6, 15 a printer 7, a large volume printer 8, a place setting system 9 and a document Handling Server 10.

The communication server 3 is connected via an adapter to a data transmission network 11, which may for instance be a telephone network, a fiber optic network 20 or a coaxial cable network, supplemented or not with networks connected thereto.

A communication and document handling server 12 is connected to this data transmission network 11, which in turn is connected via a local network 13 to, inter alia, a printer 14 for printing main documents, a printer 15 for printing attachments and a place setting system 16 for enveloping documents from the printing devices 14, 15.

Also connected to the data transmission network 11 are: a post-advance message exchange 17, to which messages regarding mailings to be sent can be reported, so that the mail can take this into account when planning sorting and distribution capacity, a postage. action center 18 for payment of postage, a 35 external post-production client 19 (for example an affiliate company that does not have facilities for the integrated generation and finishing of documents) and a 1 0 1 uv -6 server 20 equipped with external editing services as an alternative to and in addition to internal editing services to be discussed below.

According to this example, the local data processor structure and equipment for generating and finishing documents at location 1 consists of the personal computer 4 (of which in practice several are generally connected to the network 2), the minicomputer 5 and the document -ment handling server 10.

Thereby, of this data processor structure, the personal computer 4 and the minicomputer 5 are each arranged to provide a first data file in at least a first format, to describe the content of one or more documents. In the personal computer 4 this has been achieved in this example, because a conventional word processing program with "mail merge" facility has been installed thereon, and in the mini computer 5 this has been achieved in this example, by having a database program with facility for generating standard correspondence thereon. associated with certain situations of entities appearing in an information file is installed. For example, this could be a program that generates account statements in response to reaching a certain transaction sum or a certain number of transactions. Furthermore, operating systems common to such computers are installed on the computer systems 4, 5, to which the word processing and database applications are tuned. Such operating systems are well known and are commercially available in various forms or at least licensable.

The computers 4, 5 further each include a driver (driver) for processing the first data file in the first format into a second data file in a second format containing image-defining instructions. As a second format, a Postscript (registered trademark of Adobe Systems Ine.) Format is used according to this example. With this printer language, the image-defining instructions include separately executable sets, *

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-7- image-defining instructions each comprising image-defining instructions for printing an individual page. This makes it possible to print pages independently in any order and on different printing devices. However, it is also possible to use other formats, such as a PCL format or a bitmap format. ':

The use of a printer language as a second format for the instructions offers the advantage that they form image-defining instructions, especially for text documents, on the basis of which images with a very high resolution can be formed (and are therefore also suitable as a basis for displays with a lower resolution) and are generally very common, supporting drivers for a large number of operating systems. For example, finishing instructions can be included in the second format as extensions of the printer language. For further details regarding adding extensions, please refer to specifications regarding the respective printer language.

The document handler server 10 is adapted to process the second data file into an edited second data file comprising control instructions for generating documents and associated control instructions for finishing documents. To this end, the document handling server 10 according to this example is arranged to receive data files 21-25 in a processing file 26. Furthermore, the document handling server 10 is equipped with software in the form of editing services 27 which, depending on the need of offer the user of the system various facilities, for example by installing or not installing different program modules.

These processing services 27 can for instance provide for determining a franking value, entering into franking transactions with the franking transaction center 18, 1 0 1 0 ·.

• ^ 4 u <j ij o -8- determining franking instructions and editing data files in the handling file accordingly.

Other editing services related to finishing instructions include, for example: providing attachments -5 low instructions for the inserter 9 in accordance with the instructions in the relevant database 21-25 and in an editing database 28 concerning attachment feeders in which the relevant attachments are located. or information concerning 10 annexes belonging to certain categories of documents.

The installed editing services 27 may further include selecting equipment for generating and finishing documents and, if necessary, converting the instructions for generating and finishing documents to one for the selected device or selected device device suitable format. Thus, the user does not have to worry about the choice of a device for generating and finishing documents. This is particularly advantageous if, as in the proposed system, the document generating and finishing equipment includes physical document generating and finishing equipment and electronic document generating and finishing equipment. Sending physical and electronic documents can then be done via a common operating interface. In combination with accessibility data of addressees and possibly data concerning the location of addressees, the nature and urgency of documents and the costs of different sending options, different sending options can be proposed and optionally automatically selected. Such facilities may also form part of the processing services 27.

A further operation, for which the editing services 27 may be advantageously arranged, is to determine envelope printing in accordance with associated image-defining instructions for printing documents. This makes it easy to send personalized mail without the use of window envelopes. Incidentally, there does not have to be a one-to-one relationship between the content of a document and the printing on an envelope. For example, the printing of envelopes may consist of printing various logos or captions on the envelopes, for instance depending on the department of an organization with which the addressee is related.

The editing services 27 may further be arranged to generate associated finishing instructions in the form of compiling transmission data concerning a group of documents, for example in accordance with a relationship profile established for that group of documents. The transmission data can be determined, for example, from data stored in the editing data file 28.

A further application for which the editing services 27 can be advantageously arranged is to verify at least part of the control instructions. This can, for example, be used to verify addresses or postcodes or to check the validity or availability of specified attachments or attachment files. The data used to perform the validation may be stored in the edit data file. Especially when it comes to relatively rare operations or addresses originating from extensively managed address files, it may be advantageous to provide communication between the editing service software 27 and external editing services 20 in order to perform the intended verification . ____

Thus, the editing services 27 installed on the document handling server 10 can be configured to add finishing instructions as well as to modify or convert finishing instructions received as part of the second data file.

The editing services may further be arranged to convert image-defining instructions in 1 1 1 & & 3 o -10- a first print language into image-defining instructions in a second printing language. In this example, where the data files 21-25 come in as Postscript software, a translation facility may be provided for translating Postscript to another printer language, such as PCL, or to a format in which the document is sent as a fax, e-mail or web page can be generated on the Internet or an Intranet, including the addition of an address (telephone number, e-mail address, page location), and can be sent to the 10 relevant equipment 3, 6 for generating and finishing a document .

Other operations of at least a portion of the image defining instructions for which the editing services 27 may be arranged include: reading at least 15 portions of the image defining instructions and sorting each sets associated with a particular document. image-defining instructions in accordance with the read sections. This makes it possible to sort documents, for example in a way that saves on distribution costs.

Because the processing services 27 are always offered the data to be processed in the second format in a standardized manner, regardless of the application and the operating system under which this data has been generated, in principle only one version of these processing services needs to be developed.

The document handling server 10 is further arranged to manage communication with the equipment 3, 6, 8, 9 for generating and finishing documents and operatively connected via the network 2 to that equipment 3, 6, 8, 9 for the controlling that equipment 3, 6, 8, 9 in accordance with operating instructions from the edited second database. To this end, the document handling server 10 is provided with handling manager software 29.

The document generating and finishing equipment 3, 6, 8, 9 is arranged for generating and finishing documents in accordance with the control

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-11- instructions. In this example, the communication server 3 is arranged to send instructions regarding documents to be generated and to be finished elsewhere, the generation of e-mail messages, as well as web pages for Internet and 5 Intranet applications in accordance with instructions generated by the handling manager software 29. The processing services 27 according to this example are further arranged to send second data files, instead of transferring them to the own handling manager software 29, 10, to an external handling manager which may be installed in the server 12, for example. This may be advantageous, for example, if the printing and copying equipment 14-16 controlled by that server 12 is located closer to addressees or if only 15 (better) is suitable for printing and finishing the relevant documents. It is generally preferred to send the instructions in the unedited or only partially edited second format, so that location dependent operations can be performed from this universal format.

Furthermore, in this example, the fax machine 6 is arranged to send fax messages in accordance with instructions generated by the handling manager software 29. Finally, the printing device 8 and the control system 9 are each separately connected to the document handling server 10 via the network 2.

The inserter 9 is arranged in-line with the printing apparatus 8 for finishing documents received directly from the printing apparatus. This makes it possible to generate and finish documents without manual intervention.

The printing device 8 and the governing system 9 each have their own control unit 31, 32. This makes it possible in the first place to allow the two devices 8, 9 to work separately from each other. other tasks if the control system 9 is used to cover documents already printed earlier. Furthermore, this provides the possibility of combining different cover systems 9 with different printing devices 8, insofar as the control is supported by the converting options 5 of the processing services 27. In this way, the possibility is easily obtained of interconnecting a wide variety of printing devices and covering systems. to combine. In particular, this offers the advantage that on the one hand in many cases already available equipment can be integrated in the proposed system and on the other hand relatively little effort is required to ensure that very new models can always be installed when installing a new system or replacing printing equipment. fitted.

15. It is further advantageous that the control units 31, 32 each have their own port 33, 34 for communication with an external data processor in order to be able to independently use different printing devices 8 and converging systems 9.

The governing system 9 is further adapted to transmit processing capability display signals to the document handling server 10, and the document handling server 10 is arranged to drive the reproducing signals 8 in response to that processing capability for printing at least one next document. By outputting driving instructions to the printing apparatus 8 in accordance with recording capacity reproducing signals from the document finishing system 9, it is easy to ensure that the amount of printing instructions in the memory of the printing apparatus remains within certain limits. This, in turn, is advantageous because the number of documents in process during a failure is then limited, which simplifies resumption of document generation and finishing without loss or duplication ("job recovery"). The processing capacity displayed.

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The signals in the drawing are shown in the drawing as arrows marked "feedback".

The handling manager software 29 is arranged to manage separate communications with the printing device 8 and the collating system 9, coordination between the printing and the finishing operations to be performed based on information regarding the number of sheets associated with each set originating from the printing apparatus 8 and numbers of sheets arrived by the inserter 9. Incidentally, the embossing system 9 is provided with a second printing device 30, with which envelopes can be printed with addresses, logos and franking indicia, among other things.

The data processor structure used in this example for managing the generation and finishing of documents is divided between first data processor stations - depending on the source where the data concerning the documents to be generated and to be finished is composed by the personal computer 4 or the minicomputer 5 - and a second data processor station in the form of the document handling server 10, which data processor stations are interconnected via the network 2 for transferring data from the first data processor station to the second data processor station. By distributing applications for generating or at least inspecting information and drivers on the first data processor stations 4, 5 and software for processing and executing instructions in the second format on the associated document handling server 10, the editing services 27 to be installed exclusively on document handler server 10, which is very advantageous from the point of view of simplifying system management. On the first data processor stations 4, 5 of users who are designated to generate and output documents - of which typi-35 clearly have a large number in an organization - when applying this example, only one at the

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In operation, the generation and finishing of documents according to this example is as follows: A first data file is provided in a first format, which will generally be application specific.

This data file describes the content of a document or multiple documents.

The first data file is processed into a second data file in a second format. This second data file contains image-defining instructions, so that information defining images created during the preparation of the document or documents is retained. For processing the first data file into a second data table, a driver is activated from the application which, after being activated, first offers options with regard to finishing options. These choices may include direct designation of finishing instructions as well as designation of editing services 20 which subsequently result in (further) finishing instructions.

The second data file is processed in accordance with the choices made into an edited second data file with driving instructions for generating documents and associated driving instructions for finishing documents. This operation can take various forms, as can be seen from the above description. The main points can be distinguished: substantive change, such as addition or change, of image-defining instructions and / or finishing instructions and the conversion of instructions to another format in order to enable communication with a specific device. The operations can be performed while the second data file remains in a temporary storage for document generation and finishing instructions ("spooler").

Then, in accordance with the driving instructions, the equipment 3, 6, 8, 9, 14-16 is driven '] ~ · - - - "-15- for generating and finishing documents, and the documents are in accordance with those driving instructions generated and completed by the controlled equipment.

The above-described advantage, that the method with little variety of software can be applied to a wide range of operating systems, equipment for generating and finishing documents, is especially advantageous when it comes to applications, whereby the driving instructions for generating documents form instructions 10 for printing documents and are supplied to a printing device, and the driving instructions for finishing documents form instructions for processing physical documents printed by the printing device and are fed to a system 15 for finishing physical documents documents, which system processes documents printed by the printing device in accordance with the instructions for finishing physical documents. Devices for finishing physical documents, such as inserts and binding machines, are manufactured in relatively small numbers, so that the costs of developing variants of control programs weigh relatively heavily on the costs of such equipment. Furthermore, in many cases it is desirable to be able to use such devices in combination with different large volume printing devices.

Furthermore, in use, the documents from the printing apparatuses 8, 14, 15 are delivered directly to the document finishing system 9, 16. As a result, the chance of irregularities occurring when transferring the documents is limited. Furthermore, in many cases, less stringent requirements have to be imposed on the processing speeds of the inserter system, because the finishing of the documents does not have to wait for a package of documents to be ready to be transferred to the inserter system.

In order to control the document flow, it is advantageous here if the documents from the printing apparatus are. .

-16- 8 are delivered piece by piece to the system 9 for finishing documents. However, if the printing apparatus has facilities for collecting printed documents into stacks and delivering those stacks, it is also possible to provide for documents to be delivered stack-by-stack directly to the finishing system, for example in the form of stacks of two or more related documents to be bound together or packed together in an envelope.

Fig. 2 shows an example of an architecture with which further savings on the required variants of software can be achieved. Instead of a custom driver, a standard printer driver 137 is used to process the first data file in a format associated with an application 136 (such as a word processing program or a database program with a document compilation facility) to a second data file 121-125, which is sent to a handling file 126, such as a spooler. Here, too, a Postscript driver 137 can advantageously be used, because this allows page-wise handling in any order.

However, for entering the finishing instructions and communication regarding the status of a series of documents to be generated and finalized, use is made of universal client-server operating interface software which is preferably interactive. A host portion thereof is installed on the web server 135 according to this example and interacts with a client portions 138 installed on a client system 104. This client portion is in this example constituted by web browser software 138. Finishing instructions and editing services 127 can be selected and set through a suitably arranged page on the web server 135. According to this example, a web page is used for the directly operable functions of a document finishing system.

1 0 1 03 36 -17- showing a virtual control panel of a document finishing system.

The second data files 121-125 are included from the handling file 126 as objects in a core 129 of an object model which commands for generating and processing documents in the form of the second data files discussed above, data concerning the order of output of documents and series of accompanying documents, contains data regarding processing options 10 and, where applicable, error messages. Layers around it are software such as the editing services 127, the editing data file 128, and device-specific driver software 139 to control hardware in accordance with instructions determined at core 129. In accordance with options entered by the web browser software 138, image-defining instructions and finishing instructions are included as objects in the object model from the web server 135. The editing services 127 designated by the web server software 20 process the instructions entered in the object model into an edited second data file. Accordingly, the device-specific control software 139 then controls the equipment 108, 109, 130 to generate and process documents. Thereby, the sequences and rates of transmission of control instructions for printing the documents and of the control instructions for controlling the finishing of printed documents are matched to each other and to readiness or readiness signals received from the equipment 108, 109 and 130 .

By entering the instructions for editing the second data file into the edited second data file using a universal server-client interface and such universal interfaces are available for many operating systems and are being developed for new operating systems, the accessibility of the system can be for entering finishing instructions and the 1 0 ί Ü ~ 'OJ.

Specification of machining services for a wide variety of control systems is ensured without the need to develop different versions of a dedicated control interface associated with the finishing equipment for different control systems.

In addition, the universal interface can easily be arranged to provide access to information about the results of the order to generate and finish files, the state of affairs regarding the processing of a certain order and the expected time of completion of a order. For this purpose, for example, for generating web pages, conventional instruments such as HTML formats and software known under the name Java can be used.

15 - Since the second file is free from finishing instructions prior to processing, there is no specific software for the processing of information in a format associated with the application 136 into a second data file with image-defining control information. need this application. Use can be made of, for example, printing device driver software which is generally offered for a wide variety of operating systems by printing device manufacturers. Since it is not necessary to process finishing instructions in the second data file, it is moreover better possible to use other formats than Postscript, if desired, as second data file, such as PCL files or flat ASCII files.

When applying the proposed software to a network, a further important advantage is that software specifically intended for the integrated generation and finishing of documents only has to be installed on the document handling server, which is very advantageous from the point of view of simplifying system management. is beneficial. Updating the software specific to the integrated generation and finishing of documents, for example in order to become available

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-19- of a new version or adding or removing functional modules, for example, only has to be done on the server 135. Users can be easily notified of changes relevant to them through the first web page they access when selecting the software to specify finishing instructions. On client systems 104, only a universal driver 137 and the client portion 138 of the universal interactive interface need to be installed. The latter type of software, in the form of web browser software for example, is in many cases part of the standard equipment of client systems.

When the handling file 126, the editing services 127, the editing data file 128, the core 129 of the object model and the host portion of the operating interface are installed on a system operating under a first operating system, for example, a system operating under The brand name Windows NT is put into circulation, document generation and finishing commands can be issued from client systems running on various other operating systems, such as operating systems known as Unix, Linux, Mac OS and OS / 2, without the need to develop software specifically intended for the application of integrated document generation and finishing and adapt it to developments in the field of operating systems.

Incidentally, instead of web browser programs, various other types of programs that are available for different operating systems can also be used, such as e-mail programs. With an e-mail program, the operation can be realized, for example, by receiving a specification overview with completed standard finishing settings and a specification of possible alternative finishing settings as well as facilities to indicate to which instructions for generating documents the finishing instructions belong. . These settings can then be changed as desired, after which the special

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-20- overview overview if reply is returned. Of course, any user can save preferences as a template, and dynamic finishing systems, such as attaching less urgent messages stored for sending to addressees, can be automatically controlled via editing services.

Electronic documents and documents to be generated and printed remotely are generated and processed according to this example by sending documents generated with the application 10 136 directly to the web server. It is also possible to control a web-based e-mail or fax program installed on the server from the application 136.

It is incidentally noted that operating a printer and / or a system for finishing documents, such as a cover system, with a universal client-server operating interface is also advantageous outside the context of what has been proposed above, or at least parts thereof. because this already allows such equipment to be controlled from systems that can run under many different operating systems, without the need for specific driver software for the respective device to be available for operation under the respective operating system.

According to the present example, the edited second file is composed of a first subfile containing image defining instructions, a second subfile containing associated finishing instructions, and references that associate the image defining instructions with corresponding of the finishing instructions. Since the finishing instructions are specified separately, enter through a separate channel and are converted into separate communication flows with printing devices 108, 130 and control systems 109, it is advantageous also to keep the finishing instructions separate in the file on which the communication flows are based. of the image defining instructions. This also offers the advantage of not being bound by conventions regarding the format of the image-defining instructions, such as a printer language.

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Claims (30)

A method of generating and finishing documents, comprising: providing a first data file in at least a first format, which data file describes the contents of at least one document; processing said first data file in said first format into a second data file (21-25; 121-125) in a second format, comprising image defining instructions; Processing said second data file (21-25; 121-125) into an edited second data file (21-25) comprising control instructions for generating at least one document and associated control instructions for finishing at least one document; 15 subsequently controlling equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for generating and finishing documents in accordance with said control instructions; and generating and finishing at least one document in accordance with said control instructions by said equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 20, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130). The method of claim 1, wherein said image defining instructions are constituted by instructions for controlling a printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130). A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said document generating driving instructions comprise instructions for printing documents and are supplied to a printing apparatus (8, 14, 15; 108, 130) and wherein said driving instructions for finishing documents instructions for finishing physical documents printed by said printing device (8, 1 ϋ, - - J-14-14, 15; 108, 130) and separately from said driving instructions for generating documents , are fed to a physical document finishing system (9, 16; 109), and documents printed by said printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130) in accordance with said physical document finishing instructions . The method of claim 3, wherein said documents are delivered directly from said printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130) to said physical document finishing system (9, 16; 109). A method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said documents are delivered from said printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130) in pieces to said system for finishing physical documents (9, 16; 109). A method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein supplying control instructions to said printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130) is performed in accordance with recording capacity displaying signals from said physical document finishing system (9, 16; 109). 7. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, when processing said second data file (21-25; 121-125), associated finishing instructions are generated. The method of claim 7, wherein generating associated finishing instructions includes determining postage values ...... 9. A method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein generating associated finishing instructions selecting equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for generating and finishing. of documents. 10. A method according to any one of claims 7-9, wherein generating associated finishing instructions comprises determining envelope printing in accordance with associated image defining instructions for printing documents. i onion ooou -24- A method according to any one of claims 7-10, wherein generating associated finishing instructions comprises compiling shipping data concerning a group of documents. The method of any preceding claim, wherein processing said second data file (21-25; 121-125) comprises verifying at least a portion of said driving instructions. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the editing of said second data file (21-25; 121-125) comprises editing at least a portion of said image defining instructions. The method of claim 13, wherein editing at least a portion of said image defining instructions reading at least portions of said image defining instructions and sorting each sets of said image defining associated with a particular document instructions in accordance with said read portions. The method of any preceding claim, wherein said instructions for editing said second data file (121-125) into said edited second data file (121-125) are input using a universal interactive client-server operating interface. . The method of claim 15, wherein said interface includes web browser software. The method of claim 15 or 16, wherein said second data file (121-125) is free from finishing instructions at least prior to processing. A method according to any one of claims 15-17, wherein said edited, second data file (121-125) comprises: a first subfile containing image defining instructions, a second subfile containing associated finishing instructions and reference instructions that said image defining instructions to associated of said finishing instructions. 1 r 'i -25- 19. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein editing said image-defining instructions in said handling format comprises converting image-defining instructions in a first printing device language into image-defining instructions in a second printing device language. .____ 20. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said image-defining instructions comprise at least two separately executable sets of image-defining instructions each comprising image-defining instructions for printing an individual page. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a plurality of documents including electronic and physical documents are generated. 15 .22. Document generation and finishing system, comprising a data processor structure (2, 4, 5, 10; 104) and equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130 for generating and finishing documents, said data processor structure (2, 4, 5, 10; 20 104) being arranged for: providing a first data file in at least a first format, for describing the contents of documents; processing said first data file in said first format into a second data file (21-25; 121-125) in a second format, comprising image-defining instructions; and processing said second data file (21-25 121-125) to an edited second data file (21-25) comprising document generation control instructions and associated document finishing control instructions, said data processor structure (2, 4, 5, 10; 104) and said equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 35, 108, 109, 13 0) for generating and finishing documents operatively associated with controlling said equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for / 'r' \ 'r »·' '*« ^' i O ί ü ί c'J 6 υ -26- the generation and finishing of documents in accordance with the driving instructions mentioned above, edited second data file (21-25); and wherein said document generation (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 5; 108, 109, 130) is arranged to generate and finish documents in accordance with said control instructions. The system of claim 22, wherein said data processor structure (2, 4, 5, 10; 104) comprises a first data processor station (4, 5; 104) and a second data processor station (10), which data processor stations interconnected for transferring data from said first first data processor station (4, 5; 104) to said second data processor station (10), said first first data processor station (4, 5; 104) being arranged to provide a first data file in at least a first format, for describing the content of documents; for processing said first data file in said first format into said second data file (21-25; 121-125) in said second format; and for transferring said second data file (21-25; 121-125) to said second data processor station (10); wherein said second data processor station (10) is arranged to process said second data file (21-25; 121-125) into a processed second data file (21-25) and operably connected to said equipment (3, 6, 8 , 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for generating and finishing documents for controlling said equipment. The system of claim 23, wherein said first data processor station (4, 5; 104) is free from software adapted to said equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for finishing documents. The system of any one of claims 22-24, wherein said data processor structure (104) is arranged to interface with web browser software (138) such that processing of said second data file (121) -125) to document generation control instructions and associated document finishing control instructions are executed in response to instructions entered in conjunction with web browser software (138). A system according to any one of claims 22-25, wherein said equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for generating and finishing documents includes a printing device (8 , 14, 15; 108, 130) and finishing equipment 10 (9, 16; 109), which finishing equipment (9, 16; 109) is arranged in-line with said printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130) for finishing documents received directly from said printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130). 27. System according to claim 26, wherein said printing device (8, 14, 15; 108, 130) and said finishing equipment (9, 16; 109) each have their own control unit (31, 32). The system of claim 27, wherein said control units (31, 32) each have their own port (33, 34) for communication with an external data processor (10). A system according to any one of claims 26-28, wherein said finishing equipment (9, 16; 109) and said data processor structure (2, 4, 5, 10; 104) are coupled and adapted to transfer processing capacity. 25 displaying signals from said finishing equipment (9, 16; 109) to said data processor structure (2, 4, 5, 10; 104) and driving signals reproducing in response to said processing capacity of said printing device (8, 14 , 15; 108, 130) for printing at least one subsequent document. The system of any one of claims 22-29, wherein said equipment (3, 6, 8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for generating and finishing document equipment (8, 9, 30, 14, 15, 16; 108, 109, 130) for generating and finishing physical documents and equipment (3, 6) for generating and finishing electronic document ep. 0 ï ü · -> ^> J